Ithaca College Athletics

Mary Kate Tierney '14 joined the Ithaca College women's basketball staff in the fall of 2018 after a two-year stint at New York University.

In her first season on South Hill, Tierney was a crucial part of Ithaca's historic 25-6 season in which the Bombers won their first-ever Liberty League title and reached the Elite 8 for the first time since she was a student-athlete in 2014.

IC defeated RIT in overtime in the Liberty League championship before moving on to beat SUNY Poly and Saint Joseph's (Maine) in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The Bombers picked up a huge win in the Sweet 16 over DeSales to advance to the Elite 8, where they eventually lost to national runner-up Bowdoin.

During the 2018-19 season, Tierney helped develop two all-region/all-conference players in Annie Giannone and Cassidy O'Malley as well as all-conference player Grace Cannon.

During her second year with IC, the Bombers went 23-6. After winning the Liberty League for the second year in a row, IC went on to play in the program's 16th NCAA Tournament. She also helped develop the program's first all-american since Tierney herself in 2014, as Cassidy O'Malley was named WBCA All-America Honorable Mention.

In her time at NYU, Tierney helped guide the Violets to back-to-back winning seasons, making the fourth and fifth consecutive winning seasons for the program.
 
During her first year with the Violets, Tierney helped develop two all-conference players in Amy Harioka and Shaye McGoey as well as two 1,000-point scorers in Harioka and Kaitlyn Read. The team finished the year with a 14-13 overall record. 
 
In Tierney’s second year with NYU, Read was named All-ECAC First Team, D3Hoops.com East Region Player of the Year as well as First Team All-American, CoSIDA First Team Academic All-America and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-American. The Violets posted an overall record of 18-11, which was the best in three seasons.
 
Prior to her time at NYU, Tierney was an assistant coach at Dickinson in Carlisle, Pa. for two years under Ithaca alum Katherine Bixby.
 
Tierney played an integral role for the Red Devils and helped lead the team to its first conference tournament in seven seasons during the 2015-16 campaign.
 
During her time at Ithaca, Tierney put together an impressive career for the Bombers. After transferring from Division I Bryant University, Tierney made an immediate impact on South Hill, becoming the program’s fifth WBCA All-American as a senior.
 
Additionally, she was named to the D3Hoops.com All-East Region Second Team, First Team All-Empire 8 and was named MVP of the Empire 8 Championship.
 
Tierney was a key player in the Bombers’ 2014 run into the program’s first-ever Elite 8, after posting a triple-double the Sweet 16 with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
 
During her senior campaign, Tierney set a single-season record for three pointers with 72, which still stands today. She also holds the record for the most three-pointers in a single game with seven.
 
Tierney still ranks among the program’s best in single-season scoring average (13.7), single-season rebounding average (8.5), single-season assists average (3.9) and career three-pointers (118).